Missing macaw reunited with owner in Hackney after desperate appeal helps find him in Leytonstone
Blue the macaw. - Credit: Archant
A macaw that went missing from Hackney was found three-and-a-half miles away in Leytonstone almost a week on.
Blue and her Xhei's mum Ermira Alishani, 44. Picture: Xhei Alishani. - Credit: Archant
Blue, the three-month-old parrot, was found by a women at a park in Leytonstone on Thursday evening, hours after the Gazette published an appeal.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, noticed Blue perched in a tree and waited fifteen minutes for him to come down. She and a friend then used Twitter to track down Blue's owner, Xhei Alishani.
Xhei said: "I was driving home when I got a phone call from a woman who said: 'Do you have a lost bird?', so, I described what he looked like and she said: 'I've got your bird'.
"I thought it was all a game."
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The pair agreed to meet at a random location that evening. Xhei described the whole episode as unbelievable.
She said: "After all that happened, I began to lose hope because I knew Blue had not been eating. I was in shell shock when I saw him," she said.
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Although he looked a little worse for wear, the macaw immediately recognised Xhei and her mother who came to pick him up. She said he latched onto them and began squawking.
After the all-clear from the vet, Blue is now back home recovering.
Xhei, who had only had Blue for 10 days before he flew the coop, said: "The four dogs and 12 cats all came to say hi. They somehow knew he had gone somewhere and were wagging their tails when they saw him."
The family promises to keep in him a cage until he can learn to fly back home.
Blue escaped from his cage, which Xhei usually leaves open, from her family pet shop in Amhurst Road on Sunday August 25 was on the run five days.
He had been spotted in Mare Street, Hackney Wick, and Clapton Pond.
Xhei thanked everyone who helped and called their contributions "amazing".
Blue also chipped in, tweeting on the The Pet Shop Hackney account: "It's blue, you know, the macaw that's been circling Hackney and playing hide and seek with you all…
"It was through everyone's willingness to help and kind hearts that I got reunited with my family.
"So once again thank you all soooo much, we had quite the journey together."
